Good Old War is an indie-folk trio consisting of three Philly natives. Pulling from each of their surnames to create the band's moniker, these three friends and collaborators have created a great chemistry on stage and a knack for mesmerizing three-part harmonies.

The indie-folk trio, consist of Keith Goodwin (vocals, guitar, keys), Tim Arnold (drums, keys, accordion, cocals), and Daniel Schwartz (guitar, vocals). Playing at festivals such as SXSW and the XPoNential Music Festival, collaborating with Anthony Green, and cultivating a reputation that's reached beyond the Philly music scene to the rest of the nation, Good Old War have started out their first few years in a successful fashion.

Now on their third release, Come Back As Rain, out March 6 on Sargent Records, Good Old War is injecting a bit of wistful pop into their normal infectious, folksy melodies. Their new album is full of signature Good Old War acoustic pep, and conveys some of the band's "longing for home that happens when you're away all the time," as put by Goodwin. Also embedded in in the album is an expanding list of influences--electronic, classic rock, and '60s folk all play a part in creating the upbeat and smart folk of Good Old War.

Three years ago a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn named Sharon Van Etten recorded the first Shaking Through session. The session would be the first step toward writing her second album.

Sharon Van Etten is, quite literally, a musician's musician. There's no other way to explain her unbelievable and inevitable rise to international acclaim. A New Jersey native, Van Etten's college years in Tennessee introduced her to a rich, thriving music scene and inspired her career as a singer-songwriter. In 2008, Van Etten recorded a demo and bravely slipped it to TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone after one of his live shows. Malone surprised even himself and gave the demo a listen, instantly becoming one of Van Etten's first and most vocal fans. In the spring of 2009, Van Etten released her first album, Because I Was In Love," a raw and immediate acoustic full-length.

Because I Was In Love attracted the attention of Justin Vernon who showed the track "Love More" to the National's Aaron Dessner. If this attention weren't impressive enough, both The National and David Bowie covered "Love More." Dessner quickly decided that he needed to work with Van Etten beyond covering her track, but he wasn't the only artist calling with collaborations in mind. The Antlers featured Van Etten on their 2009 album "Hospice."

With the critical acclaim of critically acclaimed artists, 2010 quickly became a busy year for Van Etten. In January, she recorded the first ever
Shaking Through Session for
Weathervane Music and WXPN. The session would be the first step toward writing her second album. A few months later, "Epic" was recorded with Brian McTear here in Philadelphia at Miner Street Studios. Van Etten's following was growing quickly and after the September release of "Epic," she was signed to Jagjaguwar records. Meanwhile, she worked with the National on their track "Think You Can Wait," for Tomas McCarthy's 2011 film Win Win.

Sharon Van Etten spent much of 2011 recording her third album, Tramp. Tramp is a natural evolution from her minimalist, acoustic beginnings. This album is heavier than her previous albums, more stylistically diverse, but never overly ornamental. Even with stellar guest appearances from Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National, The Walkmen's Matt Barrick, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and Zach Condon of Beirut, "Tramp is an elegantly simple affair.

Sharon Van Etten is not only this month's artist to watch, but she's also an artist to see. She's coming to Philly this month to begin a national tour. If you didn't get tickets to her sold out show at Johnny Brenda's on the 10th, you're still in luck. Van Etten is performing as the Free At Noon guest here at World Cafe the same day. This is a performance that you won't want to miss.

Sharon Van Etten's new album comes out February 7 and she will be performing from Tramp on XPN Free At Noon on February 10. It's a performance you won't want to miss!

January’s Artist To Watch is the Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men. Their American debut EP, Into The Woods, came out December 20, with a full length due in early 2012.

Iceland’s Of Monsters and Men weave together fantastical lyrics, vocal duets and poppy folk melodies to create their own incredibly fun folklore. Some of the narrative lyrics discuss a house on the back of a whale, and a man who survived a bear attack, among other tales. Yet, the common thread that ties it all together is the group’s airy song-writing style. Whether on the tragic “Love Love Love” or on the chart topping “Little Talks,” Of Monsters and Men uses their full six-person band without overwhelming the vocals. The music that they write is impressively simple, minimalist melodies on trumpets, guitar, piano, accordion and bass. Between their pop-rock appeal and eclectic story-telling style, Of Monsters and Men have crafted their own infectious blend of European folk-rock.

The group’s talents gained them attention at Músiktilraunir, an Icelandic battle of the bands, and when they won the entire competition, no one seemed more surprised than the band members themselves. Their rise to Icelandic and then international stardom was inevitable. “Little Talks” reached the number one song in Iceland, and their EP “Into the Woods” has gained comparison to Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons in blogs and music magazines around the world. Their full-length album, My Head Is an Animal, came out in Iceland in September, and will be available in the US early this year. It has already become a number one hit back home, and we can expect only great things from the group this coming year, including a performance at SXSW 2012 in March!

Their song, "Little Talk," heard on WXPN and XPN2, made the list for one of the top songs of 2011 on XPN 2's Year In Review. Here's a great review of their recent album from the blog, Absolute Punk.

Watch the band perform "Little Talk"

Want More? World Cafe Pick for 2012

Listen to Bruce Warren and Heather Browne, with their wrap up of of 2011 and a look ahead to 2012.
And, check out their live performance on NPR.org/music

200% soul power! If you dig Fitz and the Tantrums, Daptone Records, Mayer Hawthorne, Otis Redding, Black Joe Lewis and J Geils then chances are you’ll get in to JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound.

This month's Artist to Watch is a soul-baring, relentlessly compelling, endlessly theatrical group from Chicago, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound (JCBUS) They have thus far shared the stage with music legends (Robert Plant, Buddy Guy, and Chicago) as well as relative indie and soul starters like Peter Bjorn and John, Mayer Hawthorne, and the Detroit Cobras and will be heating up the World Cafe stage this month, when they headline the December 16 XPN Free at Noon.

JCBUS are hopelessly nostalgic, in love with the Chicago soul scene from the 1970s. They are self-described as a heavy-soul outfit, and guitarist Billy Bungeroth explained that the group marries classic soul with contemporary sound; they mix fresh, pre-1975 rock and R&B, and the underground punk and hip-hop movements of the same period. "Our music is just re-imagining that first era with the knowledge of the second underground era," he explained in a 2009 interview, after their debut album Beat of Our Own Drum, was released.

Since then, JCBUS have collaborated with the likes of Syl Johnson, Renaldo Domino and Nate Evans from the Impressions. They've also released another album, Want More, a delightfully energetic blend of Motown. JCBUS music is outrageously fun, and it's difficult to believe that singer JC Brooks isn't a soul legend from the '70s when he belts out danceable tunes that fill the release. Want More is a reincarnation of a moment in music history, breathing fresh air into a long musical legacy. Here's hoping JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound never move on, because if you dig Fitz and the Tantrums, Daptone Records, Mayer Hawthorne, Otis Redding, Black Joe Lewis and J Geils then chances are you’ll get in to these cats. They are 200% soul power!

Want More? Featured Album of the Week - December 5, 2011!

Read the review by XPN's Mike Vasilikos, and pick up the album at Amazon.com.

The hotly buzzed Alabama Shakes from Athens, Alabama are bringing the soul back to rock and roll. They're quickly growing buzz in other places as well

Formerly just the Shakes, Alabama Shakes are bringing the soul back to rock 'n' roll. This Athens, Alabama quartet formed out of high school and describes its shows as "just like going to a rock n' roll church." The Shakes coalesced in 2009, and is comprised of Brittany Howard, Zac Cockrell, Steve Johnson and Heath Fogg. Howard and Cockrell began playing as classmates, and met Johnson in the local music store, and after a couple low-key jam sessions, the three were asked by Fogg to open for his band at a local gig. They asked Fogg to play with them, and immediately felt a chemistry that has kept them together since. The Shakes' style is marked by Howard's powerful voice and the ensemble's irresistible energy: they enthusiastically blend rock with soul, country, blues and roots, earning critical as well as popular acclaim for their electric performances and foot-tapping self-titled debut.

The Alabama Shakes were featured on the XPN's World Cafe: Next just this past October, and we've been so taken with with their deft, gritty, and joyous soul revival that the band is XPN's Artist to Watch for November. They're quickly growing buzz in other places as well--their New York City debut "left a CMJ Music Marathon audience literally screaming for joy," according to Times critic Jon Pareles. Praise has been particularly high for lead singer Howard, with comparisons of her vocals to that Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. It's clear we're going to be hearing a lot more from this young Alabamian ensemble.

Twenty-one year-old Laura Marling has the makings of the next great folk singer-songwriter. With a sound characterized by graceful refined lyricism and remarkable, ear-catching melody, Marling has been taking the music world by storm.

Growing up surrounded by music, the 16-year-old artist made her way to London to join the 'nu-folk' movement. She became a part of indie folk outfit Noah and the Whale, and collaborated/toured with a number of acts, including Mystery Jets and The Moldy Peaches. She then debuted her solo album, Alas I Cannot Swim in 2008, and was promptly nominated for the Mercury Prize. I Speak Because I Can came soon after in 2010, evidence that Marling was continuing to craft her own brand of graceful folk music.

This year, Marling has released A Creature I Don't Know, a dark and wonderful third album, and XPN Featured Album of the Week. As with her earlier work, comparisons to the likes of Dylan, Feist, Fiona Apple, and Joni Mitchell all at once can hardly be helped. Laura Marling has crafted an album both hauntingly mystifying and warmly welcoming. This album's theme could be seen as deeply personal--Marling sings of a woman struggling against herself and convention--but at the same time, it's a release that's both frustratingly hard and gratifying to try to interpret. With jazz undertones, banjo plucking, and lots of angry guitar, A Creature I Don't Know is simply mesmerizing.

Diego Garcia first rose to prominence in the New York indie rock scene as frontman of the moody post-punk group Elefant. After the band split, Garcia pursued a solo career, and released his debut, Laura, earlier this year.

Former frontman of the indie band, Elefant, Diego Garcia starting writing songs on his acoustic guitar by the age of 14. By the time he graduated from Brown University in 2000, Garcia realized that despite his academic success his true calling was music, and he began to make a name for himself as part of the post-punk group Elefant in New York.

Now recording as a solo artist, his new album Laura Diego Garcia is an extremely capable and moving songsmith on his own. Incorporating his Latin background – his parents are both Argentinean – into his lush, delicate music, Diego Garcia’s deeply reflective music calls to mind the likes of Leonard Cohen and Morrissey. Garcia writes incredibly introspective, often-anguished lyrics, and subtly fuses the Spanish guitar with a more traditional folk sound. With lyrics that explore a range of emotional planes, Garcia is a master of subtlety: Whether it is with panicking guitar strums, twinkles of Spanish guitar, or his soft and intimate musings, Garcia is able to delicately move the listener on an emotional level. He manages to weave his sounds like a tapestry, crafting a dreamlike, confidential album that is sure to leave listeners wanting more. After all, the album is all about his wife, Laura, and signifies a new, more personal chapter in music-making for this talented artist.

Gary Clark, Jr., impressed a lot of our festival goers this summer. Considered a pioneering guitarist alongside greats such as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Clark Jr. has raised many eyebrows with his ability to cut through styles of rock, blues, soul and R&B with seamless effort.
He's released a number of EPs, and has his major label debut on Warner Brothers, August 9. Dubbed Bright Lights, Clark will have a full-length out in January of 2012.

Clark's story unfolds at the tender young age of 12, when the musical prodigy first began playing guitar. Hailing from Austin, he was quick to take his talent to various small clubs throughout the city before a chance meeting impressed Clifford Antone, the owner of the famous blues club Antone. Atone would partner with Clark, providing him with opportunities to work with musical greats such as Jimmie Vaughn. Since then, he went on to play a number of festivals including Austin City Limits and the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival where he played alongside artists such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. With three self-produced albums, he won the Austin Music Award for Best Blues and Electric Guitarist three separate times. Clark's resume continued to grow and before long he was not only an esteemed peer among fellow Austin musicians, but also a beloved performer for a growing fanbase. And with a resume this strong, it's a wonder how Clark manages to fit in some acting and film scoring on the side.

Growing quite the fan base for his unfalteringly dymanic performances, this rocking rising star has a full-length due out on Warner Brothers in January. There are already quite a few fans of Gary Clark Jr. here at XPN, and when Clark plays with Questlove at The Blockley on August 3, opening for Questlove, he's sure to pack the house!

Hear Gary’s full, live set from the XPoNential Music Festival, and check out the photo gallery here.

]]>bdivver@xpn.org1 (Jeanne Griffin)2011Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:00:00 -0400Cults & Foster The People - Artist To Watch July 2011http://xpn.org/music-artist/artist-to-watch/item/1112-foster-the-people-cults-artist-to-watch-july-2011
http://xpn.org/music-artist/artist-to-watch/item/1112-foster-the-people-cults-artist-to-watch-july-2011Cults has transcended their Internet notoriety.Foster The People, is the hottest band in L.A., is on its way to stardom. Both bands made our ArtistToWatch this month.

Cults - Artist To Watch July 2011

Cults - One of the two acts chosen by XPN as Artist(s) to Watch this July, Cults have a bit of a fairy tale beginning. Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin have been together as a band and a couple for just about a year now, and they've commemorated with an eponymous debut. Oblivion and Follin met as students at NYU, and began to make music in their spare time. After the two posted a three-track demo on the popular indie music website Bandcamp, they began to get some serious buzz--in fact, the song "Go Outside" was labeled by Pitchfork as 'Best New Music'. Within a very short time after their initial viral success, Cults were picked up by major label Columbia and featured on NPR. It's rare that a band reaches the spotlight in so little time before actually releasing an album, but Cults did it. And going by the recent reception of their '60s pop collection, it seems like this little-band-that-could out of New York is not leaving any time soon.

Cults has already received another 'Best Music' label from Pitchfork for the sinister yet sweet flavor of the 11 pop-infused tracks. The sunny vocals of Follin can easily take a turn for something darker and edgier that obviously has more to do with the idea of cults. With the raspy, modern guitar riffs of Oblivion, the quick-changing pace of drum beats, and the glockenspiel-y reverb, this is a mesmerizing release--mysterious, cute, and dysfunctional all at once. Oblivion adeptly describes their music on NPR as "cautionary and romantic", taking inspiration from the "ambivalent, fascinating feelings with the concept" of a cult.

Cults have successfully transcended their Internet notoriety into real life with this release, which has charted in both the UK and Canada. After adding to the lineup, Cults is touring the rest of the summer in North America and Europe. They've got stops in Portland, Los Angeles, and the UK.

Mike Vasilikos just wrote up a great review of their debut, and the album is XPN's Featured Album of the Week - July 4. From Mike..."the intrigue of Cults is hard to ignore. And while so many bands ride that roller coaster of online buzz that skyrockets fast and descends with equal velocity, credit these two young artists who've managed to sustain much of the admiration. Let it be said, you don't have to drink the Kool-Aid to get down with Cults."Read the full review.

Foster The People - Artist To Watch July 2011

Foster The People - Los Angeles’ own Foster the People have emerged on the music scene this year with their debut album "Torches". Released after a highly successful self-titled EP and a string of festival tour dates, "Torches" reveals a band ready to take the next step into stardom. The five twenty-somethings that make up this indie-pop outfit are led by Mark Foster, a singer-songwriter who first began to get some buzz as a talented artist under Dr. Dre. But after impressive performances at Coachella and SXSW as well as a sold out residency, Foster the People began to slowly step into fame.

Drawing comparisons to such luminaries as MGMT, Passion Pit, and Hot Chip, Foster the People write infectious, jangling indie pop as good as anyone. The band has it all: surging synthesizer, gorgeous harmonies, and a distinctly breezy, cool SoCal demeanor. Gaining attention initially for their 90’s-sounding anthem “Pumped Up Kicks”, the songs on Torches are notable for their bouncing melodies that are subtly soaked in dazzling electronic tinkerings. In this sense, Foster the People combines the electronic sensibilities of Hot Chip with the groove of MGMT, with a pinch of Passion Pit’s incredible falsettos thrown in too. Perfect for warm, carefree summer nights, "Torches" has unsurprisingly already charted in the US, Australia and Canada.

Torches made XPN's Featured Album of the Week list on June 27. You can read Mike Vasilikos' album review here. The band is on a summer tour in support of their debut, with dates into October, with stops in LA, the UK, at the Lollapalooza in Chicago, and Austin--but performances are starting to sell out. This is a band that's not going to stay on the fringes for long. And that's one of the reasons the XPN has chosen this infectious pop outfit to double-head with Cults as July's Artist to Watch.

Givers infectious energy and ridiculously catchy melodies are propelling this Louisiana outfit to greater and greater heights. It all started with Tiffany Lamson (vocalist and percussionist) crashing on the couch of Taylor Guarisco (vocalist and guitar) while at college in New Orleans

--and each discovering the other was a musician. They combined their rock-pop-funk-soul influences. Drummer and vocalist Kirby Campbell, bassist and guitarist Josh LeBlanc, and flautist and keyboardist Nick Stephan were added to flesh out the sounds, and Givers was born. They've already been on tour with Dirty Projectors, named one of TIME's "Ten Acts That Rocked SXSW," and Stereogum chose them as a "Band to Watch" for 2010.

From the start, Givers' energy and charisma has set them apart on stage, while their genre-mixing has created a unique and hybrid sound. Describing their style as a combination of afro-beat, folk rock, and Italian pop, Givers are releasing their full-length debut on June 7. Engineered by Ben Allen (Cee Lo Green, Animal Collective), In Light is a collection of adventurous and joyous tracks, full of entrancing rhythms and melodies. Danceable, anthemic, and even touching--this is a release from a five-piece outfit that is going somewhere.

Currently, Givers are touring throughout North America with stops in Baton Rouge, Toronto, Cambridge, Austin, and Phoenix.